


I Just Want to be a Rockstar

by m_nycole



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, juke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27048958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_nycole/pseuds/m_nycole
Summary: Based on the song “Rockstar” by A Great Big WorldJulie is as happy as a teenager could be— her parents love her, she has the best friend in the world, and she has rock music in her blood.Luke only wants to play the guitar. But in between the constant fighting between his parents, they only have time to tell him to play the violin and forget about being a rockstar.What happens when these two meet at a party and change each other's lives? And what happens next?
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 27
Kudos: 280





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hey y'all! This is my first fic in a long time so please be gentle 😅. This is based on the song “Rockstar” by A Great Big World, so if you want to hear it for context go ahead and listen! Anyway I'll stop talking now, hope you enjoy!

"Hey, Julie!" Julie's mom, Rose, yelled heartily from the back door of a shaggy looking house. She stared down at her laughing daughter, her big brown chocolate eyes looking up at her with all the love in the world. She had two thin sticks in her hands, her dark hair pinned back crazily with a number of colorful barrettes. She was breathing heavily, as kids usually do when they're putting their whole heart into something and it pulls every spark of energy they have. 

"What are you doing, sweetheart?" Rose said, throwing the dish towel she had in her hands over her shoulder. She nudged one of the cardboard boxes she was using for her drums, hitting the big, black, hollow trash can she was using for a bass drum with one of her sticks. "Making music Mama, what's it look like I'm doing." She said, banging out a beat on her junk pile drum set. Her mom smiled at her and ruffled her hair. "So you actually do listen to me when I tell you things don't you? Not just that big yellow bird that sings various versions of the alphabet."

"He sings more than the alphabet, Mama, and his name is Big Bird. I listen to him cause he's right about a lot of things. Kinda like you." She said, her voice the high pitched sound of a kid's. Her mom was about to say something before her dad, Ray, called out by the door.

"Julie Molina what are you doing sitting in a junk pile in our backyard? You could get a disease or something." 

"I don't think that's how it works, honey," Rose said. Her dad smiled and threw another dish cloth at her. Ray’s eyes moved towards his daughter and he smiled a little more.

"Julie, your mom’s instruments are sitting in the house, trash free. Why don't you play there?" He said, walking down the steps to stand by his wife. Julie banged on her homemade drums. "There's better, uh, what's that word Mama?"

"Acoustics." She said, hugging her husband’s waist. Rose rolled her eyes when her daughter started banging on the drums again. "Yeah, acoustics! You go where the music is!" She said laughing at the sun. Its yellow rays bounced off her eyes, making them shine. And as she banged on her drums, she knew there was nothing else she'd rather be doing, except maybe banging on the drums with her mom, in front of millions of other people.

\------

Across the state, there was a boy sitting in the back seat of a Mercedes Benz, trying to hear the radio over his parents bickering. There was an amazing song on the radio that he could tell had an amazing guitar line and drum beat, and he could feel the bass in his fingers if he put his hand to the speakers and closed his eyes.

"Luke, why aren't you listening to the Bach I gave you? Your violin teacher said it would help with your lessons." His mom's voice said, cutting through to him and getting his attention. His eyes snapped open. "Mom, I don't want to play the violin. I wanna play the guitar." He said, his seven year old voice sounding very close to a whine. His mom rolled her eyes before reaching back from the front seat and patting his knee.

"Playing the guitar is a hobby, violin is serious. It could actually take you somewhere if you pursued it. Guitar won't take you anywhere. Take it from me."

"You can't tell him what to do Emily, if the boy wants to play guitar instead of violin, let him." His mom's eyes cut over to his father and went into slits. "Like you care, Mitch. I'm his mother, I can tell him what to do all I want." She shot back. This started another bickering session, along with a new song on the radio. Luke put his hand to the speaker and closed his eyes, mouthing the words and tuning out his parents. One day he was going to get his own guitar, and run away, where no one could find him and he could play whatever he wanted. Not what he was forced to play.

* * *

10 years later

"I'm starting to have the feeling that you drag me to these things on purpose." Julie said to her colorfully dressed best friend Flynn as she pulled her through the crowd of people dressed in flashy outfits and glitter. Looking up without seeing a hat with the new year plastered across it was almost impossible.

"Julie, you turn seventeen at midnight. Believe it or not, I bet some guys find New Year babies extremely sexy," Flynn said. Julie's eyes shifted to a group of guys by a table who were simultaneously chugging beer in huge glasses. When they all finished, they slammed the cups down and cheered, some of them burping louder than a diesel engine.

"I sure hope not," Julie mumbled. Flynn spun around, her sparkly eyes blinking. She had a headband on her head with the new year on it acting as an antenna. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at her best friend. "You're lucky I'm letting you wear a hoodie over the dress that I picked out for you. This is the best New Years party in town Jules, it's a miracle that I got us invited in the first place. Can't you try to have fun for me?" She said desperately, her eyes threatening on watery territory. Julie sighed. She loved Flynn, and this was part of their party routine. Flynn drags Julie to a party, Flynn dances and gets drunk while Julie pathetically hides in a corner and waits to drive Flynn home because Julie is always the designated driver. 

It was a routine type of thing.

"Fine. I'll find a reasonable corner until midnight or sometime after. Then we go home, alright?" Julie said. Flynn rolled her eyes at the "hide in a corner" part before grabbing Julie's arm and pulling her into the throng of dancing people. "One dance, and then I'll let you go sulk in a corner somewhere. You have to at least show off some of how that dress makes you look," Flynn said, and it was Julie's turn to roll her eyes.

A new, fast-paced song came on the speakers, and Flynn started dancing and jumping around to the beat that Julie thought was all over the place. There was definitely no harmony, the singer's voice was auto-tuned to the point of no return, and the lyrics were extremely repetitive.

What? Julie's music obsessed parents had trained her to do this. Sometimes she criticized against her will.

Julie started dancing, narrowly avoiding a bushy haired guy who was standing in the middle of the floor with a blonde gyrating on him. Julie turned around, trying not to puke, and her eyes met someone else's across the room.

Her dancing slowed down a bit, even when Flynn grabbed her hand to try and speed her up again, but she was occupied. She was trying to figure out what color eyes the stranger staring at her had. 

Maybe brown, or green, she thought. But the lights were so crazy she could barely see him, let alone his eyes. But he was still staring at her.

Not in a creepy kind of way either. In an intriguing sort of way. No one had ever looked at her in an intriguing sort of way. Unless you counted the way the teachers looked at her when she corrected them in class.

_ He's still staring _ , she thought again. He was leaning against the wall, with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He tilted his head at her, like he was dissecting her from head to toe. Julie pulled her sleeves over her hands and shook her hair, trying to cover her face like a curtain. She looked through her hair and saw he was still looking. The song ended, and Julie pulled her eyes away from the brown haired boy and tried to say something to Flynn over the music.

"I'm going to get something to eat!" She yelled, over the next song that just sounded like a bunch of bass beats. Flynn nodded at her, and grabbed her arm before she was fully walking away. "Don't eat any brownies!" She yelled, and Julie laughed before letting go and losing herself in the crowd so she could find the snack table.

When she finally found it, it was the length of three huge rooms. There was a combination of things on toothpicks and finger foods and drinks of every flavor and brand you could possibly think of.

Julie reached for a meatball that was speared with a toothpick and took a bite. She smiled, before eating the rest of it in one go. She grabbed a plate and put some more meatballs on it, with some finger sandwiches and a cookie to finish it off. She grinned triumphantly at her plate before traveling down the table, looking for a drink. 

She was surveying the table, when someone bumped into her. She luckily saved all her food, but not her hoodie.

The guy who had bumped into her was burly and smelled like a hundred year old bar. He looked down at her hoodie with a semi-apologetic look on his face, a half empty beer in his hand.

"Sorry about that. You need help taking it off?" He said suggestively, grinning like an idiot and wiggling his eyebrows. Julie groaned.

"Fuck off, asshole," She growled before grabbing a handful of napkins and stalking off the other way, a chorus of whistles left in her wake. She kept walking until she saw a door to the roof that probably wasn't infested with sex driven couples and opened the door, shutting it behind her. She breathed in a deep breath and immediately regretted it when she got a beer filled whiff. She coughed, walking up two small flights of stairs before opening another door. She walked to the edge of the roof, setting her food down on the edge before setting to work on her hoodie. Julie had been dabbing and trying to soak up any liquid with the napkins for a few minutes when the door opened behind her, and the staring boy came out, holding two glass bottles.

\------ 

Luke's breathing stopped when he saw her.

This beautiful brunette, girl who was tugged onto the floor by a short girl with braids in her hair, wearing animal print and sparkles. She didn't look like she belonged anywhere near a place like this, surrounded by drunks and sex crazed freaks. She looked like she should be somewhere that was not completely surrounded by every bad decision-making teenager in the city.

He couldn't take his eyes off her. And when she turned towards him because she was trying to avoid a couple who was practically doing it on the dance floor, her eyes locked with his. He had to go through a process of trying to make himself look as relaxed as possible against the wall, looking like he was just another teenage boy who didn't care about anything. He thought he was doing a pretty good job, but she held his gaze, raising her eyebrows.

_ I must be doing something wrong, put your hands in your pockets or something _ , Luke thought to himself. He slid his hands into his pockets, but it didn't really make a difference, because she was still looking at him with the same intensity as before. Then she did something that surprised him but he didn't let it show. Luke had become great at masking his true feelings at a very young age. Not crying when his parents screamed at each other, not yelling obscenities at his violin coach for telling him he was doing a piece wrong even though he knew he had perfected it, or smashing his violin in the middle of a concert because not only would it make him feel better but it would probably fulfill that inner need to break something that he had all the time.

The girl shielded her face with her dark, curly hair like a curtain, but still kept her eyes on him. She pulled her jacket sleeves over her hands, and that's when he realised he was making her nervous. When the song that she was dancing to ended, she said something to her friend and then disappeared. 

Luke stood up straight and raised up to the balls of his feet and caught sight of her head moving towards the snack table. Luke turned his head to the side and elbowed his friend, Reggie.

"What?" he asked, turning away from their other friend Alex, who also looked up. Reggie was rubbing the place where Luke had jabbed him. Luke jerked his head in the girl's general direction. "I'll be back, I'm going to get something to eat." Luke said.

"No brownies!" Alex yelled behind him, making Luke roll his eyes. Luke weaved his way through the crowd with impeccable skill, arriving at the table just in time to see mystery girl stalk off with a plate and a bunch of napkins, a bunch of burly guys in place of where she stood before.

Luke grabbed two glass coke bottles and followed her, until she went into the stairwell that led to the roof. The door closed behind her, and Luke stood there for a minute. 

_ I'm following a girl I don't even know onto a freezing roof. In what scenario is this logical _ , he thought to himself. But, Luke didn't really do anything logically, It seemed way too boring for him. So his feet apparently made a decision before his brain did and started walking towards the staircase door, his hand opening it.

He climbed up the two flights of stairs and pushed open the creaky door at the top, announcing his entrance. The Latina girl spun around, a wad of napkins in her hand and a stained hoodie. Luke stood there for a moment, the door cracked open a little behind him as the girl looked at him.

"Hi," she said, her breath coming out in a fog. Luke smiled.

"Hey." He said in return. He held up the two bottles in his hand nervously. “You looked like you couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”

She laughed, looking down at her hoodie. “Cute and observant, guess I got the right guy to follow me.” She joked. She looked at the two bottles in his hands and frowned. "I don't drink." She said, and she actually sounded sad about it. 

Luke moved his hand, revealing the two red labels. "These people are rich. They pull out all the stops. Including glass-bottled cokes." Luke said, walking the length of the roof and handing her one. She raised it slightly before opening it and taking a swig. She dabbed at her hoodie again and groaned.

"I really do loathe drunk teenagers," She said quietly. Luke chuckled, making her grin while still looking down at her hoodie. "Don't tell me you've never been a drunk teenager yourself?" Luke said, taking a drink out of his own bottle. The girl in front of him laughed. "I would, but I hate lying." She said, and they both laughed. She set down her bottle next to the plate of food and pulled on the bottom of the hoodie to stretch it out. She blew air out of her mouth, puffing her cheeks.

"I don't think this hoodie can be saved." She said. She started unzipping it and Luke's eyes widened. She looked up quickly.

"Don't worry, I have a dress on." She said, grinning. She shed her hoodie and draped it over the side of the roof. Luke started staring again.

The sparkly bodice of her dress hugged her curves in a way that made Luke blush, and the black tulle that fell down from her waist made her look like a New Year's cupcake. She tried to stretch the long sheer sleeves of the dress over her hands, or make the sheer black material that continued from the sweetheart neckline to make a round circle right below her throat cover up more of her, but the dress wouldn't budge. Luke was secretly happy about that.

She grabbed her bottle of Coke again and took another swig. "So, it's time for me to ask a question." She said, leaning against the side of the roof. Luke raised one eyebrow.

"Why did you follow me out here? Don't pretend that I didn't see you looking at me when I came in." She said, taking a sandwich off the plate and taking a small bite off of it. Luke plucked a chip off the plate and tossed it in his mouth, chewing and contemplating. He swallowed before giving her an answer.

"You looked very much like you didn't want to be here, even though your friend did. It was intriguing." He said finally, washing down the chip with his drink. The girl sighed with a small smile on her face. She looked at the wall behind her before jumping up and sitting on it. Luke's hands had gone out to steady her in case she lost balance, but she hadn’t looked like it was an issue. 

"Parties just aren't my thing. Flynn, my friend, loves them, so I usually have to be her designated driver. Seeing as I'm probably the only one of her friends that will actually stay sober enough to drive. It's part of the best friend description I guess." She said, shrugging, taking another bite of her sandwich. Luke saw a particularly sturdy wooden crate and sat on it. He sat his drink on the wooden ledge that the girl had jumped up on. "Is there an actual reason you don't like parties? If you don't mind me asking," Luke inquired. She looked at him for a moment.

"I guess it's the fact that you have all these sweaty drunk people boxing you in, accidentally or purposefully grinding on you. Probably every open drink in the area has been spiked, or even some of the food has been drugged. It's like people are trying to ruin you or make you feel like something you're not." She said. She looked up at the sky. "Every time I go to a party all I want to do is go out." She said. Luke looked at the way the moon was shining on her profile, making her seem like some sort of dream. 

"I get what you mean by the boxed in feeling. Like someone is suffocating you with the person you should want to be." Luke said, making her eyes travel back down to him.

"You have friends that drag you to parties too?" She said, a little smile on her face. He gave a laugh that didn't have any humor in it. "I'd want that more than parents who are forcibly trying to pull you into something, or someone, you don't want to be." Luke said. The girl was looking at him with a questioning look. "Sorry, you don't want to hear about my horrible life on New Year's Eve." He said. She shook her head.

"No, I want to. I'm  _ intrigued _ ." She said, repeating his description of her from earlier. He smiled, looking up at the stars.

"Ever since I was little, my parents would fight, every minute of every day. They still fight. They're together, but they're unhappily together, which doesn't make my life any easier. I've always wanted to be a musician, and since my mom learned very quickly that there was no way she could stop me from wanting to be a musician, instead of buying me a guitar for Christmas she bought me a violin. I almost smashed it that day; I was so disappointed." Luke said, looking back down at the girl across from him. "She's always saying that if I want to be a musician, I should play an instrument that could actually take me somewhere." Luke looked up and saw that the girl was looking at him with brown eyes the color of chocolate. All he wanted to do was stare at them. He kept talking so the conversation didn't get any more awkward.

"But I didn't want to play the violin, I wanted to play the bass. I wanted to play the drums, the keyboard, the guitar. Especially the guitar." He said. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to get his thoughts on track. Words kept coming out one after the other, in an endless stream.

"I could see you playing the guitar." The girl said, setting her Coke down. She jumped down from her perch on the ledge and kneeled in front of him. She took the bottle from his hand and set it down, spreading out each of his hands. "Guitar players are rumoured to have quick hands, because you have to be able to strum quick chords. But really, you just need to have strong ones." She said quietly, tracing the lines on his hand. She held her hand up to his, and his almost completely swallowed hers. 

Luke pulled his eyes away from their hands and looked at her face. She was completely focused on evaluating the shape of his hands, so she didn't feel him looking at her. She gently traced over the calluses on his fingers from the violin, which made him shiver.

"Have your parents ever told you that something else was better for you, no matter how much you hated doing it?" Luke said, his eyes still locked on her. She kept tracing his hands with a content frown on her face. She shook her head before she started speaking. "My parents always wanted what I wanted for myself... and that's to be happy. They're always saying, 'Just because the moon is bigger, doesn't make the stars any less beautiful'." She said, looking up at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" He said, and the girl laughed.

"I don't know, to be honest. I like to think it means a lot of things." She said, rocking back on her heels and pulling her hands into her lap. Luke turned his head up to the sky, all the stars sparkling above him.

"I wish I could have at least one bright spot like a star." He whispered, not meaning for the girl to hear him, but she did. She looked at him for a minute before looking up too.

"'I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars'." She said. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Og Mandino." He said, making her eyes shift to him. She smiled and nodded. He laughed heartily, which made her smile wider. "Cute and cultured. You are quite a package," He said, looking at her, “guess I picked the right girl to follow,” he finished, and she started laughing too.

\------

For the rest of the night, they talked about anything and everything. They had so much to say, and it was like they had finally found the perfect person to say it to.

So when midnight finally came around with its counting and cheering, they kissed with his jacket on her shoulders.

They both kissed a stranger; but after the night they shared, they weren't really strangers anymore.

So when they lay in bed that night with their heads on their pillows, they couldn't stop thinking about each other. They didn't even know the other's name, and they had taken over each other's thoughts. So much so, that that night, they dreamt about each other.

\-------

One week later Luke still couldn't stop thinking about her.

So he wrote her a song. A beautiful one.

\------

One week later Julie still couldn't stop thinking about him in the tree-house she was hiding in at her aunt and uncle's house.

Her thoughts were so occupied, and her music blaring so loud, she didn't hear the telephone ring off the hook. She didn't hear her aunt's gut wrenching scream and the sobs that followed.

She didn't hear anything after that.

* * *

5 years later

Julie Molina hated New York.

She never saw the appeal. Sure, so many amazing things have been created here, like Broadway and bars that stay open till 4 AM, but New Orleans created Jazz and France gave America the Statue of Liberty and they don't get nearly as much credit for it.

For one thing, the weather was atrocious. It would be hot as hell one day, and then raining like the tears of the dead the next. Not to mention the critically acclaimed snow. So pretty and puffy and white. Not really. Maybe for a week or two, then it gets muddy and nasty and turns to slush that ruins your brand new boots.

She hated the traffic, the people who couldn't care less about anybody but themselves, and the constant smell of odors that came from who knows where. She hated almost everything about this city.

But her job was here, so she had no choice. This was her home, no matter how much she wished she was back in the sunny City of Angels, her hometown, with its beautiful blue and white beaches..

But being a Julliard star had its prices, and her current location was one of them.

Julie graduated from Julliard three years early, surprising her professors and her classmates. She composed her own pieces and played others all on her violin. Everyone always ate up her sob story. A violin prodigy who lost her parents at seventeen who was still trying to make something out of her life. How touching.

Everyone thought she loved what she did. But that was a lie.

She had always hated classical music. Sure, she thought it was beautiful, but it wasn't her. Julie's parents raised her with rock in her blood, and classical just didn't reach the music medium she used to have.

She stopped hearing the music a long time ago. So when everyone told her it was beautiful, she took their word for it.

Julie didn't know why this thought came to mind when she stepped out of the orchestra hall and opened her umbrella over her head. She walked out alone, like she always did. After rehearsal she could never really be bothered. Her fingers were sore and jittery and she'd rather just go home instead of talking to anyone else.

She started walking with her violin case sticking out of her bag into the overflow of New Yorker's in front of the hall.

It usually took Julie at least ten minutes for her to actually bump into someone and completely lose her footing, but this time it happened in a record three minutes.

Her violin case, as usual, pulled her back when it snagged on someone's arm, pulling her down to the hard concrete. She carefully cradled her violin as she went down, so no damage would be done to the instrument.

She sighed as she reached for her umbrella, and some things that fell out of her purse. She shoved them back in around her violin while the rain soaked her.

"Are you okay?" Julie heard someone say over her. She turned around and looked up, shielding her eyes from the rain. The man was holding his hand out, which was wet with rain droplets. He had a guitar case slung over his shoulder and his brown hair was matted down to his forehead with water. But one thing was achingly familiar about him, and he looked like he realized it too. His eyes widened at the same time hers did.

It was him. The boy from the New Year's party that she kissed at midnight when she was seventeen.

After she got over her initial shock, she shook her head and took his hand. "Yeah, I'm fine." She stuttered as he pulled her up. They held hands for a moment longer than necessary before they let go and stepped back from each other.

"Hi," The guy in front of her said, and she smiled a real smile, something she hadn't done in a while.

"Hi," Julie replied, leaning her now useless umbrella on her shoulder. They just stood there for a minute, stupidly grinning before the boy said something again. "I know your name now." He said, and Julie started laughing, remembering that they had parted that night not even knowing each other's names. She nodded, looking up at him. "I know yours too. Luke Patterson, famous rockstar, huh?" She said, and he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"That would be me." He said, still smiling. "And you're Julie Molina, famous violinist." Luke said, and Julie shrugged. "Looks like we switched roles, huh?" Julie said, and Luke laughed.

"Looks like it." He said. He took his hands out of his pockets and ran them through his hair, making it stick up in all directions. "Hey, I have the day off. Do you want to go get some dinner or something? Catch up a little?" He said cautiously.

Julie nodded and smiled, making him sigh with relief. "I'd love to."

\------

Luke loved his life.

He traveled the world doing what he loved. Strumming on his guitar,surrounded by his best friends, with a million people cheering for them every night. If he had to deal with interviews and pesky reporters to live his dream, it was a small price to pay compared to what he had before.

The first song that he ever really wrote, with emotion and feelings and a chorus that wasn't about how much he loved pancakes, was about the mystery girl he met on New Year's Eve when he was seventeen. The girl who changed his perspective on so many things, that when he woke up the next morning, he was seeing the world in a whole new way.

He sent in his song to a producer in a random contest. And he won.

From that moment on, he didn't have to listen to his parents argue anymore, or pretend to love the violin because that's what his mother wanted him to do. He could be a rockstar.

All thanks to that one girl, who never even told him her name.

But three years later, he saw her on a poster in Central Park with a violin resting between her chin and her shoulder. Luke couldn't believe his eyes at first, and it took him a really long time to actually realize it was the same girl. He couldn't believe it.

The girl he had talked to loved rock and guitars, she had grown up learning to kill the drums and the keyboard. She never said anything about shredding the violin, she hated classical music as far as he was concerned. This girl, Julie Molina, couldn't have been the amazing girl who he'd met when he was seventeen.

But it was.

And, now, here she was in front of him, devouring a triple cheeseburger with extra pickles in the middle of a half empty diner. She was here, and he still couldn't believe it.

"Mmm," Julie groaned, swallowing a big bite of the burger she had just bit into. She licked her lips happily before wiping them again with a napkin. She looked up at Luke who looked extremely surprised. Julie laughed.

"Sorry, I'm being a pig. I haven't had a burger in three years." She said, pulling a pickle off the burger and biting half of it off in her fingers. Luke raised an eyebrow.

"Three years?" He said, and she nodded.

"It's been fancy appetizers and foreign food, fancy restaurants who would never even think of putting a burger, let alone fries, on their menu. I haven't had regular ice cream in months." She said, taking a sip of her chocolate shake. Luke chuckled, biting into his burger. He chewed and swallowed before asking another question. "What do you mean, regular ice cream?" He questioned, taking a fingerful of fries and putting them in his mouth. 

Julie swallowed a gulp of milkshake. "It's either gelato, which is just a slightly healthier version of the real stuff, or Baked Alaska, which is basically ice cream set on fire. Occasionally it's creme brulee, but I don't really count that." She said, and they both burst out laughing.

"So, being a classical music star isn't all that it's cracked up to be? Glad I avoided that waver." Luke said, and Julie shrugged, picking up another french fry. "It has its perks. For example, my huge and luxurious apartment that has so much space I don't know what to do with. Needless to say, I don't get claustrophobic." She said, and Luke laughed.

"But what about you? Don't you ever get tired of being crunched on a tour bus or no longer having a personal life?" Julie asked, sticking a fry into her mouth. Luke smiled and swirled his french fry around in his ketchup. "Never." He said wistfully. It was silent for a few minutes. It was peaceful and not at all awkward, the kind of silence you have with someone you've known your whole life.

"How are your parents? Still spouting amazing wisdom?" Luke said. Julie paused mid-swallow. She shut her eyes tight and finished the motion, looking down at the table.

"They, um, died in a car crash actually." She said, swallowing the lump in her throat. She blinked down at the table, afraid that she was about to cry, but she had nothing to worry about. She hadn't cried in five years.

"Oh." Luke replied sadly. He knew saying sorry wouldn't help anything, it never did with things like this. An apology wouldn't bring them back. Instead he grabbed her hand on the table and held it in his. She looked up and smiled.

"Another thing to add to my list of reasons why I don't drink." She said with a humorless laugh. Luke squeezed her hand. He wanted to cheer her up again, he needed too. But how?

Then, a thought suddenly came to him. "Hey," he said, and Julie looked up at him, her cheeks rosy. "Have you ever seen a sunset from Hell Gates bridge?" He said, and she furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head in confusion.

"What's Hell Gate's bridge?" She asked curiously, thankfully taking the change in subject. Luke smiled and jumped up, throwing a bunch of bills on the table. He pulled Julie out of her chair and grabbed his guitar. 

"You'll love it, just wait." Luke said, pulling Julie out of the diner.

\------

"Are you sure you're not leading me to my death or something?" Julie called out, Luke a few paces ahead of her. He started climbing up a long case of stairs and smiled down at her jovially. "Trust me, you'll be fine." He called back, and she just rolled her eyes.

"So how did you find this place anyway?" Julie called again, a few sets of stairs behind him. She could hear his footsteps echo through the space, the stairs creaking with every step. "My agent wanted to find a cool place for my band to shoot one of our music videos, and he suggested this one. But we told him no after we had seen it." He said, his footsteps stopping. He peered down at the top of her brown head bobbing until she looked up at him. "Why?" She questioned, stopping as well.

"Seemed way too special." He said. He reached down, holding his hand out across the short staircase that was between them. Julie took it cautiously, and she squealed when he pulled her up across the stairs, her boots clicking as they landed in front of him. She looked up at him, and he smiled down at her, still not letting go of her hand. A ray of light cut across his face, catching his eyes and making them luminous. She searched his eyes and smiled. "Hazel." She said quietly, and he raised an eyebrow, tilting his head.

"Your eyes, they're hazel." Julie said, remembering a party five years ago when those eyes were staring back at her. "When I first saw you I couldn't figure out if they were brown or green, but they're hazel," She said smiling. The corners of his mouth pulled up into a grin.

"Come on, we're almost there." Luke said, pulling her behind him. They made it to the top of the stairs, never letting go of each other's hands.

Luke pulled her through a series of tunnels before they reached a door. He pushed it open, and air came blasting in at them. Julie walked out ahead of him, looking around. "Wow." She said, looking at the wires on top of the bridge that crisscrossed in the sky. Colorful graffitti lined the walls, the last of the sun's shadow cutting across them. She turned around to see Luke gauging her reaction. "This is beautiful." She said breathlessly, still looking at the blue and purple streaked across the sky.

"That's not even the best part." He said, pointing towards the horizon. Julie walked up to one of the gaps in the structure, Luke appearing alongside her. "Three, two, one," He counted, and right on schedule, the sun collided with the earth, the brightness washing everything in light. Julie's eyes shone, and she started laughing the giddiest laugh she had done in five years.

She didn’t have any words, and she didn't want to disturb the beauty unfolding before her. "I've lived here for four and a half years, and I've never seen anything like it." She said, and she looked over at her blonde companion, who was smiling. 

"I wonder what a sunrise looks like." She wondered, and Luke laughed.

"It looks like the whole world is pulling itself apart and starting over." He said. All the lights of New York city blinking on, since the sun was making it's exit.

"Have you ever noticed that the stars are visible, just for a second, before all of the lights turn on? And then again, when the sun is just waking up." Julie said, leaning against the arch of the bridge and running her shoes along the train tracks. Luke mimicked her, smirking.

"I'm in town for a couple of months, you'll have plenty of time to show me." He said, sticking a hand in his pocket. Julie tried to hide her smile as a warm feeling unfurled in her stomach. She raised an eyebrow. "And you'll have plenty of time to show me that sunrise." She said, making him laugh.

"Then, it's a date?" Luke asked, trying to ignore the five year old butterflies making themselves known in his stomach. Julie smiled, which just made them flutter even more.

"It's a date."


	2. 3 Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie and Luke have been dating and thriving for three years now... so why is everyone telling them to break up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I finally finished the second chapter for this! I hope y'all like it, I tried to make it cute and filled with a bunch of things that make our fantom hearts happy because we all need it lol. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own them, but ughI wish I did.

3 years later

"I don't know about this ." Luke said, opening his locker in the men's locker room. Reggie and Alex nodded from their place on the bench between them as they took off their sneakers. Bobby watched all of them carefully from where he leaned on his locker. Andi, the head of their record label, adjusted the rings on her fingers. How she always managed to look completely unruffled in whatever she wore, Luke never knew.

"A European tour is just what you boys need, you'll have more fans by the end of the year than Brendon Urie." Andi said, looking at Luke with the same fervor in her eyes that she had when she signed them to the label. Luke and the boys were making her huge money, and with every screaming girl who bought more Sunset Curve merchandise, the more money she got.

"We've already been on a European tour Andi. And a U.S. Tour, and a World Tour. We want to just sit down and write music for a while. I want to watch movies with my girlfriend, be home for more than two days at a time." Luke said desperately, stuffing his things in his bag. Andi was about to say something when a small, velvet box fell out of Luke's bag and tumbled to the floor.

"Is that—?" Reggie started as Luke scrambled to pick it up. Alex, Reggie, and Bobby exchanged a look of surprise. Luke brushed his hand across the top of the box, his thumb sliding along the gold colored metal band that wrapped around the opening. He blew on it for good measure before looking back up at Andi.

"Luke," Andi started, in her condescending, no nonsense tone that she used when Luke was being unreasonable. "You can't propose to Julie." Andi said. Luke opened and closed his mouth, but not a sound came out. Luke could feel his face heating, not because of embarrassment, but because of anger.

"Why not?" Alex said, before Luke could say something he regretted. The boys had started to move towards him, just in case one of them needed to give him a comforting hand, but Andi wasn't phased.

"Your relationship, it isn't going to work out for you in the long run. It was cute, maybe even helped your career a little. But you can't marry her. It'll kill your fan base." She said. Luke's eyebrows furrowed.

"What are you talking about? People love Julie. They take me even more seriously than they did before I started dating her." 

"If you get married," Andi said slowly, like she was talking to a small child. "People will see you as older, you'll lose a huge part of your young fanbase. Name a few famous celebrities who are married who are popular."

"I can give you a list, if that's what you want." Luke shot back, not hiding the sarcasm from his voice. Bobby winced, ever the level headed one, at Luke’s tone, but he didn’t care. Andi clasped Luke's shoulder.

"Just think about it. I don't think it's a good idea, Luke. Don't be hasty." Andi said, her phone beeping. Luke sighed as Andi put the phone to her ear and walked away, talking animatedly to another client.

Luke stared at the box in his hand and ran his thumb over it, not thinking about what Andi said at all.

* * *

"You’re being absolutely ridiculous. I'm not breaking up with my boyfriend." Julie said haltingly, slamming the case of her violin shut. Her hands were shaking even more than usual after practice, probably because of what her rude and exuberant violin coach was implying. She balled her hands into fists and cracked her knuckles, trying to calm the jumpiness in her muscles.

The eyes of her violin coach Sasha widened slightly at the outburst, which Julie thought was interesting, since her hair was pulled back so tight into a bun that her eyes were turning into slits. She crossed her arms, not getting the hint of the end of their conversation as usual.

"He is h'olding you back." She said, her thick Russian accent ruining her pronunciation. 

"Violinists do not date the rockstars. Ruins reputation." She said thickly. Julie smiled sickly sweet, trying as hard as she could to push down the sudden urge to grab her tight bun and pull. 

"I've been dating him for three years, rounding on four. People still take me seriously." Julie said dismissively.

"Maybe to your face. But behind back they talk. I hear them at your concerts. They believe he has pushed you off the track. Influenced your style of music." Sasha said, her accent once again ruining her speech. Julie rolled her eyes and busied herself with her stuff.

"My music is still the same, classical with a bit of rock to make it different. It's always been that way. If anything, he makes me better. You've got it all wrong." Julie said, not looking at Sasha. Before Luke, Julie hadn’t even been able to listen to the music she played. Now she knew what it was, and how her parents had influenced her after all, even after all this time.

The Russian stomped her foot, her heel hitting hard enough to possibly crack the floor. "No! You one who get wrong! How are you to go on world tour with boyfriend like that eh? You leave him behind?" She said, and Julie looked up quickly. Her eyes narrowing.

"There's nothing you can say that will change my mind Sasha. I love him, and he loves me. I'm not breaking up with him." Julie said. Sasha's eyes narrowed as well, the whites disappearing. 

"You will lose respect. All success. Maybe even career. He will ruin you." She hissed, making Julie take a step back. "He can not be worth it." Sasha said lowly, before straightening and walking past a stunned Julie, leaving her with a million thoughts running around in her head.

***

Julie walked into her apartment, setting her stuff down on the counter and sighing loudly, draping herself on the cool marble. Her hands were still shaking, but she wasn’t sure if it was still from her rehearsal. She heard someone clear their throat before looking up quickly, her hair hanging over her face. Alex looked at her with an amused smile from the fridge.

“You good?” He asked, a soft chuckle lacing his words as he drank a dewy bottle of water from the fridge. Julie rolled her eyes, rising up and flipping the hair out of her face.

“Hello to you too.” she replied, smiling at him. The blonde reached in the fridge and sat another cold water bottle on the counter in front of Julie. His rings clinked on the counter as he did.

“Hold it,” he said, gesturing to her twitching hands. Julie looked up at him, and he wiggled his fingers. “It helps with the shaking.” He said quietly. Julie smiled softly, looking down as she took the bottle from him. Alex had been struggling with anxiety long before she met him, and he always knew when she was having a particularly hard time. Luke had always been the one to comfort Alex when he got really anxious, he had told her, so Alex joked he learned how to help her from the best there is. Alex never said that in front of Luke though. They would never hear the end of it.

Julie gripped the bottle with both of her hands, the cold making her focus just a little more. She took a deep breath, leaning against the wall behind her. 

“What’s up?” Alex asked gently, watching her closely.

Julie shrugged, still clutching the water bottle in her hands. “Just normal things. Grueling rehearsal, to many people on my way home, my coach telling me to break up with the guy I love,” she sighed heavily, “normal Tuesday things.”

Alex let out a humorless laugh. “Sounds about right.”

“Why can’t I just be with who I want, and play the music that I do, without anyone else’s opinion?” Julie said, opening her eyes partially, her lids still heavy.

Alex sighed, pushing off the fridge and leaning against the island between them, setting his water bottle down. “For some reason being famous means everyone cares what you do, Jules. You know that.” 

“But  _ why _ ?” Julie asks, fully opening her eyes.

“I’ve heard it’s because they care about our well-being, but I’m not sure.” He said, fiddling with the bracelets on his wrist. “I mean do you know how many times Andi told me to break up with Willie when we started dating? I mean  _ we’re married  _ and she still tells me how bad of an idea she thinks it was. I think she even said it at our wedding, now that I’m thinking about it.” he said, rolling his eyes, twirling the silver wedding band on his finger.

“How’d you deal with that?” Julie asked. She set the water bottle she was holding down, the cold having calmed her shaking back to normal. Alex sighed, giving her a rueful smile.

“I remembered that no matter what Andi said, or how much she was saying it because she “cared”, or that it would ruin the band, or our image, there was only one thing that mattered.” Alex said, looking up from his ring to look at Julie. She raised her eyebrows in question, making Alex return an eye roll in exasperation.

“I  _ loved  _ him, Jules.” Alex said, smiling. “Loved him more than I cared about what Andi said. And thankfully that was enough.” He said, shrugging a shoulder. Julie smiled, opening her mouth to say something, but closing it quickly as Luke rounded the corner from the living room. He smiled brightly when he saw her, and her heart squeezed in her chest.

“Hey Jules.” He said, walking to her and planting a kiss on her cheek. She smiled up at him, his eyes bright with happiness, like they usually were.  _ I’m so screwed _ . Julie thought, as she watched him reach for her forgotten water bottle on the counter.

“Hey you.” She said. Luke smiled at her.  _ So, so screwed _ .

“I was just coming to get Alex, he was taking forever.” He bumped Julie gently with his shoulder. “Now I know why, my lovely girlfriend.” Luke said, making her roll her eyes.

“You’re ridiculous.” Julie said, shaking her head. 

“Ridiculously awesome.” Luke said, smiling with his tongue in his cheek. Alex watched them with an amused and knowing smile on his lips, shaking his head. 

“Hey, can you two hurry up? How long does it take to get water?” Bobby called from the music room down the hall, a chuckle chasing his words.

“Yeah, Luke, stop flirting with your girlfriend!” Reggie called in mock seriousness. Julie laughed.

“He has to stop flirting with you first Reg!” Julie called back, walking out of the kitchen with a smile on her face. Luke could hear Reggie sputter from the end of the hall at the implication.

He looked back at Alex, who was watching him. Luke raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Alex put the top back on his water bottle, looking back at him. “If you’re going to propose, you need to do it soon.” He said, surprising Luke. Luke furrowed his eyebrows, glancing at where Julie had just left.

“Why? What did she say?” Luke asked, a seed of panic in his chest. Alex shook his head starting to walk out the kitchen.

“Just trust me.” He said over his shoulder, disappearing around the corner. Luke looked after him for a minute before pulling the velvet box out of his pocket, flipping up the lid to look at the silver band. The metal bent into two treble clefs that met at their heads, a diamond nestled between them. Luke looked up at the laughs coming from down the hall, the ring heavy in his hand.

***

“Jules?” Luke said, trying to get her attention. She moved her head in his direction, her eyes still watching the movie through her thick glasses. She had her hand partly in the popcorn, but her focus was mostly on the action happening on the screen.

“What babe?” She said half-heartedly. Luke knew she had gotten used to ignoring him while they watched movies, he had a tendency to want to talk right in the middle of them.

“Are we okay?” He asked, shifting so he was facing her fully. Julie’s eyes were still on the screen, but he knew she heard him, because she raised one eyebrow.

“Like right now? I mean you’re talking during the best part but I love you so I can live with that.” She said, throwing a few pieces of popcorn in her mouth. He sighed through his nose, biting his bottom lip anxiously.

“No,” he said, looking at her, his hazel eyes trained on her face, “no I mean, are  _ we  _ okay? Like us, relationship wise.”

That, it seemed, got her full attention. She looked at him, blinking a few times. She adjusted her glasses, her forehead creasing. He raised his eyebrows in question.

She grabbed the remote and hit pause, turning to look at him. Her hair was braided tightly, ending in a ponytail over her shoulder, the way she liked to wear it when she was going to get it cut the next day. She tugged on those curls, looking at him with her forehead creased.

“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t we be okay? Is there a reason we shouldn’t be okay?” Julie asked. Luke smiled a little, grabbing her hand.

“It's just—” Luke started, but Julie cut him off.

“Why do we always have to have serious conversations in the middle of movie night? Do you do this on purpose? This is like the fourth time. It has got to be on purpose—”

“I told you, I have way too much time to think while we’re watching a movie.”

“But why?” Julie questioned. “We’re watching the movie. Why can’t you just think about the movie?”

“We’re getting off track,” Luke said, holding her hands steady. They usually started to get fidgety when she asked him rapid fire questions like that. It meant she was getting nervous. “Are we okay?”

He watched as Julie’s eyes roamed over his face before she sighed. She held a hand up to his cheek, her thumb running over his cheekbone. He wanted to lean into the touch, but he kept his eyes focused on her.

“We’re better than okay. Why? What’s bothering you?” She asked gently, scooting closer so the tip of their knees were touching. He rubbed small circles onto the back of her hand, not meeting her eyes.

Luke bit his lip, thinking about the ring hidden in one of his guitars. It was the only place he knew she wouldn’t look. He wanted to tell her so badly. He hated keeping things from her. It never really worked out for either of them.

“Luke?” She prompted, making him look up. She had a concerned look of love on her face. It made him want to kiss her really, really badly. But he had to stay focused.

“Andi wants us to go on another tour.” He said, watching for her reaction. Julie sucked in a little breath through her nose, looking down at their hands. She tried to hide the little wince she gave at his words, but he saw it anyway, he always did. 

“How long this time?” Julie asked, her eyes still on their entwined fingers. Her voice broke his heart.

He sighed. “I don’t know. She said Europe this time. That usually takes about six months.” He said hesitantly. 

Julie let out a big breath, her cheeks puffing out. “Shit.” She breathed, getting up off the couch. She started to pace in front of him, her hands twitching like they did right after she had rehearsal. She opened and closed her fists, trying to calm down her nerves.

She shook out her hands, looking up to the ceiling. “Okay. Six months isn’t that long right? And I mean Sasha wants me to go on tour, so maybe now is the best time, right?”

“Julie—”

“Yeah, we can make it work. You were gone for almost a year for the international one, and we made it work. We’ll visit each other, make a schedule—”

“Julie—” Luke said, getting up from the couch.

“It’ll be fine, right? We’ll be fine.”

“ _ Julie _ .” Luke said, reaching out to hold her shoulders so she would stop pacing. She looked up at him, her brown eyes wide behind her glasses. “ _ Breathe _ . Please, you’re scaring me.” he said, searching her face, waiting.

Julie sucked in a breath through her nose, letting it out through her mouth. She blinked a few times before clearing her throat, stepping away from him. Luke missed her warmth almost immediately. 

Julie looked up at him. “Okay,” she said calmly, “I’m going to say what I think.”

“Okay.” Luke said, taking a step towards her.

“I think… that this is a bad idea.” she said, looking up at him shyly.

Luke was silent for a second, before smiling. “Me too.”

“Like the worst idea.”

“ _ The worst _ .” He repeated, taking her hand.

“But I mean is that okay? Will the guys be upset?” Julie asks, pushing up her glasses.

Luke shook his head, squeezing her hands. “Reggie and Bobby want to hang out with their kids. They would rather stay at home. And Alex and Willie have been thinking about adopting for years, but we’ve always been too busy. This will give them a chance. Plus there’s no way we’ll be able to get married if I’m on tour for a year, and—” 

Julie looked at him, her eyes widening. Luke was still talking, as if he hadn’t said the craziest thing in the world.

“Wait, what?” Julie said, once she had found the words. Luke stopped, looking down at her with confusion. “Get married? Did I miss something?” she asked cautiously. He always tended to ask her important questions when she was focused on something else, so sometimes she accidentally tuned him out. But she didn’t think she’d miss a proposal.

Luke paused, looking down, like he was trying to remember all the words he had just said. Julie knew the moment he had realized what she was talking about, because his head shot up in alarm.

“I didn’t mean that.” He said quickly. Julie raised her eyebrows.

“You don’t say stuff you don’t mean, Luke.” She replied, looking at him through lowered brows. He scrunched up his face, trying to come up with an excuse before he blew out a big breath, groaning, throwing his head back.

“Shit, I couldn’t keep one thing a surprise.” He said, looking up at the ceiling. Julie, despite herself, laughed. The sound made Luke look back down at her. She was grinning, her arms crossed over her chest. Luke thought that was a good sign; at least she wasn’t hitting him or anything.

“You were going to ask me to marry you?” Julie questioned. Luke nodded timidly. He was still a little afraid she was going to hit him. Julie was quiet, just standing there looking at him before she rose up on her toes, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. He was surprised, but he never said no to a kiss from her.

When she pulled away slightly, he watched her face. She was still smiling.

“Well? Can I see it?” She asked, looking at him closely.

Luke furrowed his brows in confusion, making Julie roll her eyes. She grabbed his hand, leading him to their music room.

It was the biggest room in their apartment by far. It had to be, considering the grand piano sitting in the corner of the room, and Luke’s collection of acoustic and electric guitars. Not to mention all of Sunset Curve’s rehearsal instruments, and Julie’s three violins. The room was cozy, and it always felt like home.

Julie led Luke to the line of his guitars along the back wall, standing by the first one he had ever been able to buy for himself. It was well worn and had some knicks here and there, but it would always be Luke’s favorite.

“I want to see the ring.” Julie said, still smiling wide. Luke looked at her, an incredulous look on his face.

“How, how did you, how did you know it was in there?” He sputtered, looking between her and the guitar. Julie leveled a look at him.

“It’s the only instrument I don’t touch, or clean. You always do.” She looked down at it, a soft smile on her face before looking back at Luke. “So you hide everything in the stand.”

Luke opened and closed his mouth in disbelief. “If you knew I hid everything there why haven’t you ever looked?” He said. Julie shrugged.

“I like surprises. Now stop stalling.” she said, gesturing to the stand with her foot. Luke just shook his head, chuckling as he bent down to retrieve the ring hidden in the guitar stand. He held the velvet box in his hand carefully before looking up at Julie.

She raised her eyebrows, waiting. “Do you want me to get down on one knee or—” Luke started, but Julie interrupted him with an amused scoff. She plucked the ring from him, flipping open the lid before he could react. Julie stared down at the ring, her eyes sparkling. Luke couldn’t remember how to breathe, he was so nervous.

For a few minutes, they were both silent. Luke was afraid to speak, or move, because Julie wasn’t doing either of those things, and he still hadn’t determined if that was a good or bad thing.

Finally, she looked up. Her eyes were lined in silver, tears threatening to fall. Julie gave Luke a watery smile, taking a breath. The ring was perfect. He was perfect. She would have said yes even if there wasn’t a ring, even if everyone in her life told her not to marry him. 

She realized that Alex was right; nothing else mattered, except for the fact that she loved him. That was more than enough. It would always be enough.

“Can you put it on me?” She said softly. Luke nodded, taking the ring from her. He caressed her hand gently, sliding the cool silver onto her finger. It fit perfectly, just like he knew it would. 

Julie stretched out her hand, looking at the ring again, before looking at him.

“Reggie is going to be so mad he wasn’t here for this.” She said, making Luke laugh and scoop her up in his arms. He twirled her around by her waist, peppering her face with kisses as she laughed, trying to push him off half-heartedly. He put her down, still holding her close.

“Just making sure, so I’m absolutely certain; you want to marry me?” Luke asked. Julie rested her hands on his chest, the silver ring on her finger glinting in the light.

“Yes, you goofball. I’m gonna marry the hell out of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all liked it! I pumped it out kind of fast (for me anyway lol) soI hope it lives up to what y'all wanted. Stay safe and happy fantoms 💜  
> Please leave a review! I love them hehe

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I have the startings of a next chapter, to make this a two-shot 👀. If y'all like this enough leave a review and I'll post it! Or just leave a review to make me smile 🥰.


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